In a career that spanned three decades and married the garment and entertainment industries, Versace changed the way fashion collections are presented, staging his Milan runway shows as ““events’’ with all the wattage of a rock concert. He was the first to fill his front rows with celebrities. Mike Tyson, the artist formerly known as Prince, the princess forever known as Diana - they were all part of his so-called ““tabloid vivant.’’ And when Versace opened his flagship New York boutique last year, Elton John and Jon Bon Jovi were the house band. His influence, however, was not limited to fabrics and fashion. Like Ralph Lauren, he was a lifestyle merchant, not just a designer; Versace sold the allure of rock and roll and the flash of celebrity to anyone who could afford his wares. And he was always at the top of the gay A list, a glittering homosexual icon whose way of life was attractive to so many - including, perhaps, his killer.
In a fast-moving industry, Versace was one of the fastest, reveling in breaking professional molds - and basking in the resulting limelight. He published book after coffee-table book of his work and his homes, and shook up the staid world of the Paris couture (once cutting, embroidering and beading clear plastic into meticulously crafted gowns). Years before it was fashionable to do so, he challenged advertising-industry standards with overtly homoerotic imagery that celebrated the beauty of youth and the wisdom of age - not to mention the nudity of models. ““In reality, [he] who is afraid to be a little bit over the line, is always afraid of life,’’ Versace would say.
Few have been so fearless. Versace’s style was the antithesis of Armani’s, optic yellow instead of beige, screaming pop-art prints rather than demure florals. The two often duked it out in the press. ““I could never do a very, very beige, pale classic suit,’’ Versace once told a reporter. ““Everyone can do that. Is boring to me to do that, and people don’t want to be boring, in my opinion.’’ Armani once taunted, ““If you make ugly fashions, maybe you need Claudia Schiffer.’’ In their quest to outdo each other these rivals brought Italian style to international attention. On hearing of Versace’s death, a stunned Armani called his competitor a symbol of ““the success of Italian fashion all over the world.’’ Showmanship and dynastic ambitions drove Versace. He developed his own immediately recognizable style - a look-at-me-I’m-fabulous esthetic that melded the modern and the classic. Adopting a Medusa-head medallion as his logo, he put it on everything from wristwatches to silk print shirts, china to blue jeans, down comforters to perfumes. Thanks to licensing, you could look like Versace, smell like him, eat and sleep like him - for a price, of course. He understood better than any other designer that sex moves the merchandise.
Meanwhile, Versace lived a gay life far more openly than anyone else of his notoriety. Though others in the business kept quiet about their sexuality, he made a point of mentioning his boyfriend in an interview with Vogue. ““He was not necessarily someone who was leading the gay-pride parade, but he was not creating false girlfriends or fake wives,’’ says Sarah Pettit, editor in chief of Out magazine.
His glamorous sexuality was liberating - but sadly may have turned him into a target for the tragedy in South Beach. “"[Versace] made it OK to acknowledge that men were objects of beauty,’’ says Hal Rubenstein, fashion editor at large for InStyle magazine and a friend of Versace’s since 1990. Though Versace cultivated the persona of a fast-lane party boy, Rubenstein and other fashion insiders say it was mostly for show. ““The Gianni I knew stayed home a lot more than anyone dreamed he did,’’ says Rubenstein. Instead, they paint a picture of Versace as an intellectual with a tremendous hunger for knowledge and new experiences. One recent collection included references to Byzantine iconography, Japanese calligraphy and the British cinema. Versace put them all in the hopper and created something unique.
““I hate designers who live in an ivory tower,’’ Versace once said. ““I think you have to be part of this culture, of this music, of our time. If you understand your time, you are a good designer.’’ If that’s true, Versace was the best - and, in the end, the most vulnerable.
